The light blue set are all part of the London Inner Ring Road, this section of which opened in 1756 as the New Road. There appears to be no specific motivation for how they were chosen when the travel writer Tim Moore searched the Waddingtons' company archives he did not uncover any relevant documentation. The final list mixes well-known landmarks with relatively obscure locations. Whitechapel Road is now the cheapest (as opposed to Old Kent Road) but Mayfair remains the most expensive in 2016 an estimate by loan provider West One showed the average house price on each was £590,000 and £3,150,000 respectively.

The relative wealth of the various places has changed slightly. The set has been celebrated by the Monopoly pub crawl, which attempts to visit all the locations on the board and have a drink at a pub in each one. In 2003, Watson's grandson (also called Victor Watson) unveiled a plaque at what is now a branch of The Co-operative Bank, the original location of the Angel, Islington, to commemorate the elder Watson's contribution to British popular culture. Tourists from as far as Canada, Singapore and Saudi Arabia have been known to visit specific locations in London because of their presence on the Monopoly board. The resulting board has been perennially popular around the world, with the chosen locations becoming familiar to millions. It became such a success in the UK that Waddingtons ran Monopoly competitions in locations depicted on the board one such contest was held on platforms 3 and 4 of Fenchurch Street station. The London version of the game was successful, and in 1936 it was exported to Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, becoming the de facto standard board in the British Commonwealth. He took his secretary Marjory Phillips on a day-trip from the head offices in Leeds to London and the pair looked for suitable locations to use. Watson became interested in the board game after his son Norman had tried the Parker Brothers original US version and recommended the company produce a board for the domestic market. The locations on the standard British version of the board game Monopoly are set in London and were selected in 1935 by Victor Watson, managing director of John Waddington Limited.

A standard British Monopoly board, featuring locations in London

First monopoly board game original